Author Interview ~ Craig Parshall

Craig Parshall is a highly successful lawyer from the Washington, DC, area and the author of the popular Chambers of Justice series of legal thrillers. With his wife, Janet, he has also authored the historical novel Crown of Fire, which takes place in the 1500s against the turbulent backdrop of the Scottish Reformation.
Read another interview with Craig Parshall.


What new book or project would you like to tell us about?

How about my latest novel, Trial by Ordeal … it was released recently. That was a different kind of a novel for me. I had written six fiction books before that one; five were in the genre of “legal suspense” and one was a historical novel co-authored with my wife Janet. But Ordeal was unique. True, it was chock full of lawyers, legal entanglements, and courtroom drama like my other novels. But in this one, I decided to write it from the perspective of the client rather than the lawyer. The point was to show how an unwary client who is a novice to our adversarial system of justice can really be run through the wash-rinse-and-spin cycle and come out feeling pretty battered and bruised.

My aim wasn’t to lambaste the legal system – but to show how it can operate in reality, “warts and all.” I also wanted to show, though, how lawyers – when they are righteous “champions” in the good sense – can make a good but flawed system work excellently. And, of course, I also wanted to tell a good story, so I put the whole thing in a context of a down-on-his-luck-college professor as-jilted-lover who gets tangled up with the Chicago mob, tripped up by unethical (or simply uncaring) lawyers, and nearly swallowed up by a legal system that operates by rules that seem illogical (at a minimum).

Publishers Weekly gave me a good review, and commented on the fact that I must have had fun writing Trial by Ordeal – which I clearly did. The other thing is the fact that I decided to write it in a first-person narrative, a first for me. It is a style that I found enjoyable for this kind of story. I would like to try it again.

Tell us about your publishing journey. How long had you been writing before you got a contract? How did you find out and what went through your mind?

As an undergraduate at a large university I took some writing classes. In one of them, the professor chose my short story to read out loud in class (I experienced a massive, instantaneous dose of both elation and confused embarrassment). Then he asked me to stay after class. He asked me if I had given any thought to a career in fiction writing. I told him I had given it some thought, but was fond of eating on a regular basis so I had some hesitation about that path.

I later dabbled in journalistic writing, as the editor of our college newspaper and a reporter for a local newspaper. But in the end, I chose to go to law school and the only creative writing I did was to pen a short story for my family every Christmas. Fast forward 30 years – I had co-authored two non-fiction books with my wife, Janet, so I had a relationship of sorts with the publisher of one of them, Harvest House. Frankly, her celebrity as a radio talk show host made her an easy target for publishing (coupled with her powerful communication gifts), and so I got an easy “pass” for those contracts. But the hunger to write creatively had never really died.

Then, approaching the age of 50, something clicked with me – a convergence of several things, including a crisis or two – and I decided it was publish or perish. I sat down to write The Resurrection File on “spec.” It took me about a year. Then I plunked it down on the table in front of the editors of Harvest House. I had a great relationship with them based on the nonfiction books – but I could see the incredulity on their faces. In fact, they went so far as to have it read by an independent fiction editor who had done some general market stuff. The response was not only a contract for that novel, but an entire series!

For me, it was not just a moment of professional or creative satisfaction, it was a spiritual experience. I had thought (but wasn’t fully convinced) that I had some God-gifted talent in fiction writing. But a little like Moses in the desert for 40 years, I had to “wait the wait” until the timing was right, and probably also for my life experiences to inform my writing. By the way, I recently received a copy of The Resurrection File …translated into Dutch! There was something awesome about looking at the book that started it, and leafing through it in a foreign language I couldn’t begin to understand.

Do you still have self-doubts about your writing?

Yes, but in a different way. I am beginning to know where I am solid, as well as the places I still need work. I don’t (as I used to do) have a problem identifying myself as a writer. But I don’t look at that as a profession – instead I see that title as a process.

Was there ever a time in your writing career you thought of quitting?

I do remember decades before ever getting a writing contract, having ceremoniously thrown in the trash a number of un-submitted manuscripts (none completed by the way) because I had found it too difficult to manage my law practice and my writing, and figured the later had to go.

What mistakes did you make while seeking a publisher or agent?

I used to view agents like the attendants who smile, take your ticket at the airport gate, and then send you down the chute to the plane. In other words, your manuscript is the ticket, and they live and breathe to get you flying. Wrong! Agents are more like the security screeners at the airport – they sometimes over (but more often under) inspect your writing, looking for some reason to delay your upward mobility.

The reason is clear: they don’t get paid unless your work can create a contract, from which they collect a percentage. They will have limited interest in work that doesn’t have a reasonably quick turn-around for their effort. If you think they are looking for the next Hemmingway or Faulkner, think again. They are looking for the next Dan Brown. That is not a pejorative – because the later is their job, the former is the job of your editor.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve heard?

The true art of writing is the art of rewriting.

What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?

More than one college professor used to elevate style over the story. Style is like (if you are a fisherman) the way you cast out your line. It is learned through repetition, personal preference, individual personality, and then just plain crafting and re-crafting. But the telling of the story has to be preeminent. Picking the story is like choosing the lake or stream where you want to spend the rest of the day.

Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?

I somehow have the feeling that the days of publishers spending time with writers in an effort to develop their potential are over – with a few exceptions. Perhaps those “good old days” didn’t exist, though I have reason to think otherwise.

What do you wish you’d known early in your career that might have saved you some time and/or frustration in writing? In publishing?

In writing: at first, keep your story slim and linear, and then, with more and more books, expand them (rather than the other way around).

In publishing: remember it is a business, not an art form.

Was there ever a difficult set back that you went through in your writing career?

Every book I have written, because I have had to still manage a full-time day job as a lawyer at the same time, has been like child birth, joy in the morning (but preceded by bouts of agony).

What are a few of your favorite books?

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. Most of the Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle. And Lost Horizon by James Hilton.

What work have you done that you’re especially proud of and why?

I felt good about Missing Witness because I think I fairly successfully told two legal stories – separated by 300 years but interwoven – simultaneously. I think Trial by Ordeal was one of my better story-telling experiences.

Do you have a scripture or quote that has spoken to you lately in regards to your writing?

Ecclesiastes 12:12 – “the writing of many books is endless …” I think the Lord wants quality, not quantity.

Do you pattern your books off real cases?

Yes and no. In every one of them I can point to one or more cases that “inspired” the story, but very soon the real cases are nothing but an emotional motivation for the writing, rather than the plot line.

What triggers a new book idea for you?

Many times current events that converge with my own experiences. Or something I will read about a fact, or some news item, or a bit of obscure research somewhere, and after I plant it in my mind, something starts growing.

Are you an SOTP (seat of the pants) writer or a plotter?

Definitely a plotter – but not so precise that I can’t end up surprising myself with the way some elements turn out in the story.

How do you balance your time as a busy lawyer with your writing?

I set very demanding ultimate goals – but try to stay flexible on a day-to-day basis. For me, the initial research and character ‘bios’ and plot construction are the hardest. Once I get a framework for the story, then the writing comes pretty easy. I try to write almost every work day. I can usually predict where I will have some blocks of time where I will have a series of full days to really do intensive writing; but usually it is accomplished in bits and pieces.

How do you keep your writing on track with the interruptions your law practice creates?

This used to drive me crazy. But necessity is truly the mother of invention for me – I simply tried to buckle down and write in a series of changing circumstances, and after the first few books, it started becoming easier to write in the midst of interruptions. One of the things that helped me was the epiphany that there wasn’t that “perfect” paragraph or chapter out there if I could simply get the time and quietude to find it. In fact, with interruptions, I sometimes found myself backtracking on what I had started, and decided that it wasn’t any good, and so I headed off in a different direction. Interruptions can occasionally be fruitful and positive.

Can you give us a look into a typical day for you?

No. Because there have been so few “typical” days. Looking back, I can say that each of my novels was written under different circumstances and under different stresses. In one case I was doing a lot of driving in my car for weeks on end. So I taught myself to dictate the rough-out of chapters on a tape recorder while I drove. In other cases I had the time to spend several hours a day at my keyboard in relative quiet. In other times when I was doing a lot of traveling by air plane I found that writing in long hand on a yellow pad in an airport was very productive.

Do you have a word or page goal you set for each day?

Not really. Rather, I know how many months it is going to take me to write the book. Then I extrapolate backwards in terms of an average out put per month. Then, as I get into the process, I try to write into my calendar a certain number of chapters, or re-writes, for each day that I can predict having some writing time. The process is always being adjusted a little because of the other demands from my other work.

What author do you especially admire and why?

I admired the focused restraint of Hemingway’s style, but saw his world view as utterly bankrupt and hopeless. I also was very attracted to elegant prose style of a writer by the name of Paul Horgan. But there again, I am talking about some aspect of their ability – not their character as a writer. For me, “admiration” is reserved for a real pioneer in Christian fiction writing – John Bunyon. He had very little in terms of shoulders to climb up on. But his use of fiction and allegory as a means of communicating Biblical truth is still (in my opinion) almost without parallel.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

Favorite part – after I have shaped the story in my mind, know my characters well, and I have already knocked off a number of chapters and the inertia is starting to build.

Least favorite part – all of the marketing energy that has to go into each book, where I naively continue to hope (as I always do) that it would simply build its own audience by some act of supernatural magnetism.

How much marketing do you do? What's your favorite part of marketing?

A lot. Partly because I think I have a better feel for the book, and the way in which it can be described to the public than do the marketing folks. On the other hand, I am often surprised that their ideas are better than mine. For me, the “fun” part of marketing is coming up with the initial marketing “concept” for the book, including the cover.

Do you have any parting words of advice?

Write what you know, of course. But also know what you write. Have a true, objective sense for how some stranger, who doesn’t know you, will respond to what you have written. Will your creative intentions connect with his/her life experience? Constantly ask yourself – “does this piece of writing really speak truth?”